There’s no denying that Phil Galfond is one of the most respected figures in the poker industry. He doesn’t always say much, but when he does speak up people tend to listen. Recently, Galfond was kind enough to accept our invitation to appear as a guest on the PokerNews Podcast where he offered his thoughts on a plethora of topics including his thoughts on a recent story about a poker dealer taking a shot against him at the high-stakes pot-limit Omaha (PLO) tables.
Galfond, who recently released a new course on PLO, also provided updates on the “Galfond Challenge” and where things stand with Run It Once (RIO) now that it’s been sold to Rush Street; shares his thoughts on potentially appearing on High Stakes Duel opposite Phil Hellmuth; and why in the world he has a drinking fountain in his Las Vegas home!
Finding Rare Heads-Up PLO Action
A couple of weeks ago, PokerNews released a story about a poker dealer, “ChrisIsLord,” stepping up to the plate and competing in a heads-up battle against Galfond. The game was $50/$100 PLO and the challenger, whose YouTube screen name is "ZefaPoker," sold off 37% of the $20,000 he intended to use for two buy ins ($10,000 each) in the match.
“Yeah, it's rare [for me to find action],” said Galfond. “It's hard to find, you know, relatively high-stakes PLO action, especially heads up. So, it was a welcome surprise as I was sitting there. When I stream, which I don't do too often, but during online WSOP events, sometimes I like to stream, so I just open a couple of cash tables and sit just in case because I do get a little bored one or two tabling an online WSOP event, especially in the early going when it's not that big a deal yet … what I hope for is a little bit of cash game action, and then this particular time I actually got some.”
"It's a little frustrating when you lose a big pot and then immediately the game's over.”
Surprisingly, Galfond didn’t come out as the winner in the match. It ended up being a match where “ChristIsLord” won almost $7,500. It turned out he had set a stop win of $5,000, so then ended up quitting with a profit. Galfond was disappointed but understood the play.
“I think initial reaction is always, well, any time that I'm playing and lose the action and I'm kind of excited to get some heads-up action that I don't get very often, it's a disappointment. So, whether I'm winning or losing, it's always like a gut reaction. It's a little frustrating when you lose a big pot and then immediately the game's over.”
Galfond continued: “He actually reached out afterward because I was still streaming and he got into my stream chat and started talking to me and mentioned that he had to stop in and mention that it was his biggest play. And then I told him I was happy for him. I don't think that was not genuine … I'd much rather lose to him than to a pro, like a high-stakes pro, who is not affected too much either way.”
Run It Once & The Galfond Challenge
Back in March, Galfond sold his Run It Once (RIO) poker site to Rush Street while remaining in a key role. Last the poker world knew the site was setting its sights on the US market, but since then there hasn’t been an update. Fittingly, PokerNews took the opportunity to ask Galfond if there has been any movement.
“Certainly, but I think as far as updates, no, there's not,” he explained. “Long story short, is when we have something to update on, we will. But we are still hard at work and it's been fun and exciting. I'm excited to move towards the US market and actually launch something here and with the support of Rush Street rather than doing it on my own.”
Another topic PokerNews inquired about was the status of The Galfond Challenge, which has stagnated for a year after Brandon Adams conceded his match to Galfond. At the time, Dan “Jungleman” Cates was the next player slated to step up to the plate.
“Not much movement there,” Galfond admitted. “Jungleman and I are going to play at some point, but he's a tough guy to pin down, and I am a little bit as well. So, it'll happen at some point. I don't know when but it'll be fun. We'll both stream it!”
He added: “I feel like I need to start maybe pushing for us to do it in bits and pieces. Initially, I wanted to do it all in one or two weeks, let's call it two weeks, that we just grind it out and be done. Whether it's here in Nevada on WSOP.com or I travel outside of the U.S. and we do it elsewhere. But because it's been so hard to get our schedules to sync up, maybe I should just say next time I see an opportunity, hey, let's play a couple of days and then chip away at it over time.”
What if the Cates match doesn’t materialize? Is there someone else waiting in the wings perhaps?
“But otherwise, no, there's not anything on the Galfond Challenge front,” he shared. “I've been kind of asking for challengers that I can play from here, from my home in Las Vegas, because it's just difficult. The challenges ended up lasting longer than I expected. I played fewer hands per day than I expected in all the challenges. So, these were, you know, three-month events sometimes, and traveling now that I have a son who's in preschool, I'm just kind of settled here, and I can do it, but I'd rather not if I can avoid it.”
Is High Stakes Duel in the Cards?
If Las Vegas action is what Galfond is looking for, how about tossing his hat into the ring for PokerGO’s High Stakes Duel?
“I think I would like to… They were [recently] taking volunteers and a handful of people stepped up. I did not because, I don't know, if you're subbing in for Scott [Seiver] you would get one match and if you lost, you'd be done.”
Indeed, per the rules of High Stakes Duel, a player must win three matches in a row before they can cash out. If Hellmuth wins the next one, he can take the $1.6 million and run. Seiver’s replacement, which wound up being GGPoker Ambassador Jason Koon, doesn’t have the same luxury.
“I kind of want the opportunity to have three shots,” Galfond explained. “So, I mean, I don't want to officially throw my hat in the ring because it's going to be weird like if Jason wins, he's one of my closest friends. I don't really want to play him at all, but I would like to play on the High Stakes Duel at some point.”
Water Fountain in His Room; What’s Next?
Many years ago, Galfond made headlines for spending a huge chunk of money installing a two-story metal slide in his New York City apartment. It’s a legendary story, and while the slide was ultimately dismantled and thrown out by the apartment’s new owner, Galfond has another oddity in his Las Vegas home.
“It is, yeah,” Galfond said with a smile when asked if he had a drinking fountain, the sort one might find in an airport, installed in his home office. “I drink a lot of water throughout the day. Yeah, it's the late thirties version of the slide.”
So, what’s next for Galfond?
“I wish I could give them more to look forward to,” he said of his legion of fans. “I spent a lot of the last year and beginning of this year finishing up my PLO course on Run It Once, which was full-time for several months. It’s strange because I've basically just been practicing and studying heads-up poker for the past several years, and it doesn't give you a lot of opportunities to play unless you find heads-up action. So, I'm just sitting here working on the businesses but hoping somebody reaches out and says, ‘Hey, I want to play some heads-up, something awesome.’”
For more on Galfond, check out his interview with our very own Chad Holloway here:
